This last Wednesday I passed up a job offer to make an extra $12,500 per year. I think it was a great a decision, and I'll share why in this post. I hope you can relate to my tough decision and gain some insight to help you with your own tough decisions.The new position was with a company that would require a lot more of my time and energy, but my pay checks would be fatter. This offer made me decide which was more important: Time to continue searching for the right side business or more money and advancement in my current career. Here's some background around my situation:I wasn't searching for a new job. This offer just landed in my lap. It's the same line of work I'm currently in, but with a company that has a more intense culture.

As I've gained experience and became more efficient at my current job, I've been able to focus more on starting my own side businesses. I've used this extra time and energy to create several side businesses (Pro Internet Marketer, Healthy Meals to Eat, Purse Gallery, and Reunion Patios).

Even though each of these businesses didn't turn out to be a huge successes (and not one of them were built around what I really care about), I learned more about myself from each business. If it wasn't for my proficancy with my day job, I wouldn't have the time or energy to pour into another project after work.

In order to make the best decision around my new job offer I needed to understand what internally drives me. Otherwise I risk making my decision based on what I "should" do. When I say what a "should" do, I'm referring to making my decision based on what drives other people around me, instead of what actually drives and fulfills myself.

Most people make their decisions based on what they "should" do. It's easy to do this, because you can find plenty of reasons to back up your decision and make yourself feel like it was the "right" thing to do. If society and the people around you general agree with your decision, you can tell yourself that you did the "right" thing.

When I asked the people around me what they thought I should do, everyone seemed to lean in the direction of making the move and taking the extra $12,500, but for some reason I had the gut feeling that I shouldn't take the job. I wanted to rationalize my feeling to try and bring clarity to my decision, so I started to dig to the core of what was driving my gut feeling.

What it really came down to was a fear that this new job would be soul crushing long hours doing something that didn't inspire me. I don't know if the fear was founded, but it was there and it was driving my decision. To bring more clarity to my situation and I decided to ask myself a simple question. Will taking this new offer help me align my daily activities around what truly drives me, and thus achieve my highest goals? For me this question went like this:

"Will taking this new offer help me acheive the vocational freedom to do what I love every day?"

The answer was "No". I think this job would have been a detour that side tracked me from what I really care about and shoved me deeper into soul crushing work that didn't inspire me.

You could also make the arguement that this job offer was life's way of giving me an opportunity to grow and learn more about myself. In which case, I probably should have taken it. What do you think about my decision? Have you faced a similar tough decision? Please share below.

Hello Eric. Thank you for sharing your blog and your experiences in making career decisions. I recently changed jobs, and one of the main reasons I chose the way I did was so that I could have the time and energy to develop outside interests (and potential business ideas) outside of my job. Thank you for sharing and I hope to hear more about how you balance your "day job" with your side projects after work. All the best, Vivi

I am going through a lot of the same questions now. As I think about the future of my career, some of the options I am considering will pay much less. But like you said, you also have to think about how the opportunity fits into your larger goals and reinforces your values and principles.

Kudos on the decision. Turning down $12500 is a small price to pay for freedom. I totally agree with not doing what we "should", which is most often defined by everyone around us. Thanks for sharing your personal experience.